Headache Pain: Types, Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis & Treatment

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Headaches are a very common condition that most people will experience many times during their lives. The main symptom of a headache is a pain in your head or face. This can be throbbing, constant, sharp or dull. Headaches can be treated with medication, stress management and biofeedback.

How common are headaches in adults?

If your head is throbbing, you’re not alone. Headache is one of the most common pain conditions in the world. Up to 75% of adults worldwide have had a headache in the past year.

Headaches are a major cause of absenteeism from work and school. They also take a toll on social and family life. For some people, continually battling headaches can lead to feeling anxious and depressed.

What are the types of headaches?

There are more than 150 types of headache. They fall into two main categories: primary and secondary headaches.

Primary headaches

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Primary headaches are those that aren’t due to another medical condition. The category includes:

  • Cluster headaches.
  • Migraine.
  • New daily persistent headaches (NDPH).
  • Tension headaches.
  • Sinus

Migraine

Symptoms: pain in the face or neck, throbbing in one area, sensitivity to light and sound, nausea, distorted vision

  • Moderate to severe pain.
  • Nausea or vomiting.
  • Pounding or throbbing pain.
  • Pain that lasts four hours to three days.
  • Sensitivity to light, noise or odors.
  • Stomach upset or abdominal pain.

Duration: 4 to 72 hours

Primary or secondary: Primary

Tension

Symptoms: dull pain on either side of the head, and pressure across the forehead

  • Consistent without throbbing.
  • Mild to moderate.
  • On both sides of the head (bilateral).
  • Responsive to over-the-counter treatment.
  • Worse during routine activities (such as bending over or walking upstairs).

Duration: 30 minutes to several hours

Primary or secondary: Primary

Sinus

Symptoms: pain in the face, sinuses, eyes, ears, or forehead, congestion, itching, runny nose, fever, swelling in the face

  • Bad taste in mouth.
  • Deep, constant pain in your cheekbones and forehead.
  • Facial swelling.
  • Feeling of fullness in ears.
  • Fever.
  • Pain that gets worse with sudden head movement or straining.
  • Mucus discharge (snot).

Duration: several days to weeks (if treated)

Primary or secondary: Secondary

Cluster

Symptoms: severe pain on one side of the head, usually around the eye, accompanied with a drooping eyelid, small pupil, tearing, runny nose or redness on the same side of the head

Duration: cluster periods can last for weeks or several months, usually followed by a period of remission that can last for several months or several years.

  • Intense with a burning or stabbing sensation.
  • Located behind one of your eyes or in the eye region, without changing sides.
  • Throbbing or constant.

Primary or secondary: Primary

New daily persistent headaches

New daily persistent headaches (NDPH) come on suddenly and last for more than three months. They typically occur in people who weren’t having frequent headaches before. The pain of NDPH is:

  • Constant and persistent without easing up.
  • Located on both sides of the head.
  • Not responsive to medications.

Secondary headaches

Secondary headaches are related to another medical condition, such as:

  • Disease of blood vessels in the brain.
  • Head injury.
  • High blood pressure (hypertension).
  • Infection.
  • Medication overuse.
  • Sinus congestion.
  • Trauma.
  • Tumor.

Medication overuse headaches

Medication overuse headaches (MOH) or rebound headaches affect up to 5% of people. They happen when you frequently take pain relievers for headaches. Eventually, this practice can actually increase your number of headaches. Signs of MOH include:

  • Headaches becoming more frequent.
  • More days with headaches than without.
  • Pain that’s worse in the morning.

Are headaches hereditary?

Headaches have a tendency to run in families, especially migraines. Children who have migraines usually have at least one parent who also suffers from them. In fact, kids whose parents have migraines are up to four times more likely to develop them too.

Headaches can also be triggered by environmental factors shared in a family’s household, such as:

  • Eating certain foods or ingredients, like caffeine, alcohol, fermented foods, chocolate and cheese.
  • Exposure to allergens.
  • Secondhand smoke.
  • Strong odors from household chemicals or perfumes.

What causes headaches?

Headache pain results from signals interacting among the brain, blood vessels and surrounding nerves. During a headache, an unknown mechanism activates specific nerves that affect muscles and blood vessels. These nerves send pain signals to the brain.

What causes migraines?

Migraines aren’t fully understood. But researchers think migraines result when unstable nerve cells overreact to various factors (triggers). The nerve cells send out impulses to blood vessels and cause chemical changes in the brain. The result is disabling pain.

What triggers headaches and migraines?

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Common triggers of tension headaches or migraines include:

  • Alcohol use.
  • Changes in eating or sleeping patterns.
  • Depression.
  • Emotional stress related to family and friends, work or school.
  • Excessive medication use.
  • Eye, neck or back strain caused by poor posture.
  • Lighting.
  • Noise.
  • Weather changes.

Headaches in children

Most kids have had a headache by the time they get to high school. For about 20% of them, tension headaches and migraines are a reoccurring problem. Similar to adults, triggers for headaches in children include:

  • Certain foods that trigger headaches for the individual.
  • Changes in sleep.
  • Environmental factors.
  • Stress

Prevention

Taking care of yourself might help ease chronic daily headaches.

  • Avoid headache triggers. Keeping a headache diary can help you determine what triggers your headaches so that you can avoid the triggers. Include details about every headache, such as when it started, what you were doing at the time and how long it lasted.
  • Avoid medication overuse. Taking headache medications, including over-the-counter medications, more than twice a week can increase the severity and frequency of your headaches. Consult your doctor about how to wean yourself off the medication because there can be serious side effects if done improperly.
  • Get enough sleep. The average adult needs seven to eight hours of sleep a night. It’s best to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Talk to your doctor if you have sleep disturbances, such as snoring.
  • Don’t skip meals. Eat healthy meals at about the same times daily. Avoid food or drinks, such as those containing caffeine, that seem to trigger headaches. Lose weight if you’re obese.
  • Exercise regularly. Regular aerobic physical activity can improve your physical and mental well-being and reduce stress. With your doctor’s OK, choose activities you enjoy — such as walking, swimming or cycling. To avoid injury, start slowly.
  • Reduce stress. Stress is a common trigger of chronic headaches. Get organized. Simplify your schedule. Plan ahead. Stay positive. Try stress-reduction techniques, such as yoga, tai chi or meditation.
  • Reduce caffeine. While some headache medications include caffeine because it can be beneficial in reducing headache pain, it can also aggravate headaches. Try to minimize or eliminate caffeine from your diet.

Tips to Get Rid of a Headache

Try a Cold Pack

If you have a migraine, place a cold pack on your forehead. Ice cubes wrapped in a towel, a bag of frozen vegetables, or even a cold shower may ease the pain. Keep the compress on your head for 15 minutes, and then take a break for 15 minutes.

Use a Heating Pad or Hot Compress

If you have a tension headache, place a heating pad on your neck or the back of your head. If you have a sinus headache, hold a warm cloth to the area that hurts. A warm shower might also do the trick.

Ease Pressure on Your Scalp or Head

If your ponytail is too tight, it could cause a headache. These “external compression headaches” can also be brought on by wearing a hat, headband, or even swimming goggles that are too tight.

Dim the Lights

Bright or flickering light, even from your computer screen, can cause migraine headaches. If you’re prone to them, cover your windows with blackout curtains during the day. Wear sunglasses outdoors. You might also add anti-glare screens to your computer and use daylight-spectrum fluorescent bulbs in your light fixtures.

Try Not to Chew

Chewing gum can hurt not just your jaw but your head. The same is true for chewing your fingernails, lips, the inside of your cheeks, or handy objects like pens. Avoid crunchy and sticky foods, and make sure you take small bites. If you grind your teeth at night, ask your dentist about a mouth guard. This may curb your early-morning headaches.

Hydrate

Drink plenty of liquids. Dehydration can cause a headache or make one worse.

Get Some Caffeine

Have some tea, coffee, or something with a little caffeine in it. If you get it early enough after the pain starts, it could ease your headache pain. It can also help over-the-counter pain relievers like acetaminophen work better. Just don’t drink too much because caffeine withdrawal can cause its own type of headache.

Practice Relaxation

Whether it’s stretches, yoga, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation, learning how to chill out when you’re in the middle of a headache can help with the pain. You might talk to your doctor about physical therapy if you have muscle spasms in your neck.

Try Massage

You can do it yourself. A few minutes massaging your forehead, neck, and temples can help ease a tension headache, which may result from stress. Or apply gentle, rotating pressure to the painful area.

Take Some Ginger

A small recent study found that taking ginger, in addition to regular over-the-counter pain meds, eased pain for people in the ER with migraines. Another found that it worked almost as well as prescription migraine meds. You can try a supplement or brew some tea.

Reference: drshehadi.com, mayoclinic.org

Published by ClickForAYEYARWADY Team

249 Replies to “Headache Pain: Types, Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis & Treatment”

  1. Headache is one of the most common symptoms that we suffer often. Thanks lots for sharing knowledge.

  3. Headache is one of the most common pain conditions in the world.
    Yes, I also have got headache often .

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  232. Yeah, also agree dehydration can also cause headaches especially in hot weather. My favourite drink for hydration is the shake of Royal D (Grape flavour) with nice cool pure water 🙂

  242. Very useful information!
    When I got headaches, nice fresh hot coffee helps me feel better ☕️

  247. Nice article! I’ve got headache 2 in three of my life. This article is very useful for me. Thanks a lot.

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